PRISM's major focii is post production. It never has been any sort of player in retail film sales of any type (just a few rolls for students to pick up ad hoc), yet it turns over almost $2m (as agency printer for Fairfax Media) annually in post work with analogue (processing etc) used by just 23 photographers, and not very often at that.

The freezers, plural, are chocka. The chooks are now free range awaiting the table, the lamb ribs are out to pasture — sort of, in Moose's freeza (at least until she discovers them in residence, and then...)

Last edited by Poisson Du Jour; 04-30-2013 at 09:16 PM. Click to view previous post history.

All very speculative. Poor moving film formats will be trimmed, others will stay. Manufacturers are catering for a shrinking, not growing market. That's the reality. No amount of sweet talking will convince me we're on a boom home run. We are the ones who said Fuji would continue to provide the films we enjoyed in the formats we used. Then came the announcement last year and the discontinuation of the formats, and surprise, surprise, we were shocked. Why? We cannot deny the undeniable. The news did not surprise pro-level dealers or labs dealing with Fuji films with so little film being sold (at least by them; very different story for online e-sellers). There was a rumour that Fuji would pull two more films "next year" (2013) but nothing has been heard of said of that. The Dealer Bulletin which I read (both at Michaels and PRISM) made it clear that demand for film was continuing to fall and that would steer the decisions made by Fuji's parent (Japan) company re manufacturing.

I am puzzled by the China situation. We saw more digital cameras on our family trip to China than film,and that was 2009. I don't know where the observation is coming from that film is booming in China; they population seems hooked on the latest and greatest of digital; indeed, China is where a large number of digital cameras are assembled, making them cheap for the masses and thus more appealing. Perhaps RattyMouse, being a resident there, can enlighten us on the present situation in China v.i.z. film vs digital.

Film is a niche here in China, but a very popular one compared to other countries perhaps. The camera mall in Shanghai has 5-6 stores selling film, a LOT of film. Every time I go there I see customers buying film. In this same mall there are thousands upon thousands of used film cameras for sale, from tiny pocket cameras up to large format. You name it, it is for sale here. I bought my GA645 in this mall and am mulling over adding a GSW690.

Finally, I take at least one weekly walk through the city (today's walk was 8 hours long; last day of the national holiday). It is not at all unusual to bump into another photographer, also shooting film.

Remember that Kodak "gave" all E6 film business to Fuji last year, while Fuji just "gave" Kodak all MP business and that, just after Fuji released their archival MP films. So, Fuji gained E6 which boosted sales.